I've Got You
by Kaz McDonell Miller
Summary: Edge for one reason or another is actually and unexpectedly concerned for Akira's welfare. Where will their sudden hostility for one another direct them to?


**a/n:** started this so long ago, i don't even remember. i've always liked the gedo high school gang because of their... eccentricity to say the least. great buncha kids. so, yeah, i'm a huge edge/akira fan. but the problem is, they're so hard to see to be the type that would get together on a whim... what's a romance without drama! -whapped- XD! so i had to think about that... and then this fic was born. i'm trying to develop my literary skills as i'd rank them novice. but give me genuine reviews and i will appreciate it with everything in my being! long live rival schools!

i dedicate this to two people... steph (AKA amy wave) because she was as big an edge fanatic as me... and i haven't seen her for four years. ;; and leela, because she ALWAYS had my back since the second i met her. and i met her recently, too, so that's an extreme plus in my book... love you! i'm trying to make this the best i could!

**disclaimer: **rival schools/justice gakuen is © capcom, co. ltd. story written by me! no profits being made.

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**i've got you**

_written by: sylenis_

chapter 1: recognition

"..._Hyper Bomb_! YEAH! Haha, sweet!" Edge jumped up as he threw his fist in the air and slapped Gan a high-five. "_I don't lose!_" he exclaimed in his terrible English dialect.

"Yeah, Edge, you're the man! Although she almost had you there..."

"Shut up, Gan. You know, Akira, for a challenger, you put up a pretty tough fight..." Edge huffed, sticking his chest out. "But not tough enough for the champ!" he cackled. Akira chuckled underneath her helmet, glad for its protection. She didn't want them to know that she didn't feel as energetic as her two crazy friends today... especially not today... in truth she felt sick to her stomach, and very unhappy. But she couldn't let her personal feelings interfere with their weekend. She figured she'd have to relax a little before she could face them again...

"Yes, Edge. You did great. But... I'm gonna go take a breather outside for a minute. I need a little break." she replied casually, getting ready to turn around.

"What? We've only been here for 5 minutes!" In truth, it had been two hours.

"Please..."

"Hey, are you OK? You don't sound too good..." Edge squinted, as he peered into her visor. Gan blinked at them both, thinking the very same thing. Akira swallowed and shuffled backwards.

"I'm fine. I just wanna see the sky, that's all."

"Uh... okay, whatever. See you soon." Edge waved her off hastily, and started digging into the wrong pocket for his yen. And with that, Akira nodded and immediately headed out. She whizzed past Gan like a hummingbird, but he didn't entirely believe that she was as okay as she insisted she was. He looked at her with some kind of empathy, but he decided that she was acting too strange today just to let her go. Just as Edge was about to shove some yen into the arcade machine...

"Ah... Edge, I think we should go check up on Akira. She seems pretty troubled. You know, more than usual," he stated plainly, looking down unto the floor. "She's been acting weird all afternoon..."

"But she said she'd be okay, right? Look, my game's starting, you go check up on her if you want," he mumbled, already beginning to select his character.

"Edge."

"Whaaat?" Edge cried out in an exasperated tone.

"I thought you were her friend." Gan replied sternly, crossing his huge arms across his big chest. His frown reached down the bottom of his jaw, as he glared at his scruffy companion.

"I _am_ her friend, I've just gotta beat Gill first..."

Gan, annoyed at Edge's insensitivity yanked him off of his feet and slung him over his shoulder. Everyone else turned around to contemplate at the awkward situation—the loud Japanese kid with tall punk blonde hair slung over a gigantic heavy guy with part of a washtub wrapped around his belly. "HEY, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM! I spent MONEY on that!"

"You be quiet." Gan replied irritably, politely excusing the other people in the arcade. "I can tell that this is one of those times that Akira really needs us—the both of us."

"And what can I do? I'm not a counselor!" Edge spat, attempting to wriggle free of Gan's strong (and huge!) grasp. As he kept protesting, Gan shrugged and continued to exit the back of the arcade. They had to go through the whole of Aoharu's Station Square to get to the bridge, one of the the spots where she liked to relax. After a bit of walking, they found Akira without her helmet, leaning against one of the rails on that bridge that led to an elevated view of the Yamato River. It always seemed that they always came here at sunset. The sky was a beautiful orange, and the ground smelled of earth, mixed with the smell of the gasoline and oil from the construction site down below... the sounds of the rushing motors behind them were almost placating.

Edge was a bit afraid to see what Akira's problem was, however. He was never too good at speaking about feelings or consoling anyone, even when it came to his own family. It's things like this that shut him up. He couldn't even admit things to himself. So what made it that he'd help Akira any? If anything, at least he didn't want to look ridiculous in front of her (not that he hasn't already...) and this was one of those things that were just damned uncomfortable. He'd finally given up to his much bigger counterpart, as he lay lifeless and frustrated on Gan's shoulder. Upon closer inspection, Gan noticed the obvious look of pain and loneliness on Akira's face... he wondered if it was because her brother left once again just a few weeks ago.

"Hey... Akira-chan," Gan said softly as he put Edge down, who was still pouting. "We decided to hang out with you out here for a little bit..." Akira had only been aware of their attendance right after he spoke. She seemed quite startled, but there was no point in feigning content now. She'd been caught red-handed. Here, Gan and Edge had snuck her out of Seijyun High's dormitories (which is another story for another day) this weekend to have some general old-school fun and she felt that she ruined it for them. She hardly replied, and her already sad eyes drooped even further down towards the river, seemingly feeling worse than ever.

Edge elbowed the bigger teenager gently and mouthed, "See? We only made it worse!" Gan shook his head, and went to lean next to Akira, who refused to look up. Edge sighed, and took a spot on her opposite side. Gan glared at him as if he expected to say something. They both glared at each other. Edge broke the stare and boldly spoke up.

"Akira, don't feel so down about whatever it is that's bothering you." Edge stated plainly. Gan resisted the urge to slap his forehead. "As a matter of fact, what IS bothering you, anyway?" he prodded. Well, he didn't waste any time getting to the point, Gan thought. And yet, Akira didn't answer. Boy, did they feel like dorks. Edge let out an even more audible sigh as if to force the impression that if she didn't care, well neither did he. He never asked to be here, anyway. Gan tried his own again, this time laying a gentle hand on Akira's shoulder that practically covered her entire back.

"Akira, if something is wrong, I want you to tell us." he began, preparing for the worst. "We will be your friends for life, no matter how bad things get." Gan noticed that right after he said that, her face fell even more. "Whatever it is... it's obviously tormenting you in some way... and you know," he paused, to look up at his broom-haired friend. "It hurts me too."

"Yeah... and me... I guess," Edge mumbled hesitantly, seeking truth in his words. Was her problem really his own? Gan smiled at him in appreciation. Edge rolled his eyes.

Akira paused yet again for what seemed to be an eternity. She was so gratitious for their loyal companionship... but the thought had also plagued her. What if she were to lose them? She then finally mustered what she was wanted to say… but it didn't come out quite right. "Today... today is... I'm afraid that..."

"It's okay, Akira. Just calm down a little, and take your time," Edge drawled boredly, leaning against his elbow. He wondered now, if this was the more emotional... _female_... part of the Akira he knew... it seriously made him uneasy. He didn't enjoy it too much, either.

"I'm afraid... I'll lose all of my friends... you guys... my brother... just like Yuu."

"Me?" Gan asked puzzledly, scratching his head. Edge lifted his head a little bit, thinking to himself... the name was rather familiar...

"When Daigo got out of control... as unbelievable as it seemed, I was scared to death, you guys. Scared to death that I could have... killed my own brother..." Akira's voice broke, as she kept her gaze fixated on the steady flow of the river. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself..." her voice lowered so such a pit, it was doubted that it get any lower. Edge and Gan looked at each other, feeling a bit confused. They understood her pain, her fear... but why did this come up so suddenly? She was fine after everything was cleared up. Hell, all of this happened little over a month ago!

"But why did you say you've already lost me?" Gan asked, scratching his head. "I don't understand... have I been mean to you recently?" he asked with genuine concern, terribly perplexed. "You'll always have us..."

"No... no," Akira smiled a little, loving Gan's natural naivety. "Not you... Yuu. Arise Yuu. After Hyo's funeral... I couldn't stop thinking about his death."

Edge continued to stare straight ahead, his face contorted in concentration.

"I'm... so sorry, Akira." Gan said guiltily unable to remember this person off of the top of his head, "What happened to him? ...Who was that?"

"He... uh... took his own life. He was... my boyfriend." she replied solemnly, shutting her eyes.

"I knew it!" Edge exclaimed with a sudden revelation. He pounded into the gate they were leaning against, grinding his fist. "I remember seeing the news about that kid last year when all that crap was goin' on! That was the asshole who jumped off of the Tamagawa Minami JHS because he was too much of a pussy to face the fact that he knew what he was doing against the schools was just fucked up!" Edge burst out, as his two companions turned to him in astonishment. "And this is some news to me, he was your _boyfriend_! The fuck was he thinking!" he screeched. Akira's eyes got big, and all the tears she'd been holding back just fell and streamed down her face.

"H-h-how... how could you say.." she trembled, placing her heavy-gloved hands over her mouth. Why did Edge feel so strongly? Gan gritted his teeth in what seemed to be regret, not expecting this sort of thing to happen at all. He was entirely speechless.

"Well, it's true isn't it! I mean, if the bastard really cared about you, about anyone, he wouldn't have killed himself would he? Come on, even _I _pulled through! If he was your boyfriend, how come he didn't put into consideration of the fact that he could have hurt YOU for the rest of your life?" Edge twitched, his obvious vein of agitation popping up on the side of his neck. Suicide was something he never approved of. Even though he entered high school as a punk who hated his life... Daigo had brought him back to teach him the right way to live. He always regretted possessing this sort of ignorance earlier on, but now that he's risen over it...

"EDGE! Shut up!" Gan roared, as Akira's sobs racked her little body. He gritted his teeth and started wondering if he should have brought him at all. It was tearing him up inside. He didn't know if he should inform Edge of his blasphemy or to keep quiet. They indeed _did_ make Akira feel worse, and this was far from what he intended to do.

"No way, people like that make me SICK!" Edge screeched back, completely unaware of the hidden hurt he was revealing in Akira. Gan knew at this point, there was no stopping him now. "Who's he to have such a toll on Akira? She doesn't deserve this! She just... she just wants..." Edge quelled himself as he tried to control his anger when he started hearing her audible sobs. He cursed under his breath, and started fingering the base of one of his army knives in his pockets out of severe frustration. How could anyone do that to someone else? He wasn't going to apologize to her, however, because he meant every word he said. So why did he feel bad regardless the instant Akira began to cry?

Akira's eyes lay fixated on the ground as she stood her own, shaking almost uncontrollably. Gan looked Edge dead in the eye, showing an obvious sign of his extreme disapproval.

"Look, all I'm sayin' is that Akira shouldn't feel bad over someone who didn't give a damn about her own interest. I mean, if I were her boyfriend, I would never..." Edge stopped short. "If I were someone's boyfriend... I'd never... do something... like that..." the ever-talkative boy said quietly.

"But who are YOU to say how Akira is supposed to feel? You don't even know what happened between them. Have you ever lost someone that way?" Gan asked. Akira silenced, long enough to hear what Edge had to say. An awkward paused settled before he decided to speak again.

"Yes, actually... I have. My best friend in Junior High School. The idiot figured he had no future just because of a stupid argument he had with his parents that morning and decided to take it away right then and there. I can never, and will never forgive him for that!" Edge huffed, shoving his hands back into his pockets. Accidentally slicing one of his fingers, he cursed under his breath yet again and swiftly turned on his heel to walk away. "I'm outta here."

"No, you wait right here!" Akira suddenly shouted, shocking the three of them out of their sullen mood. "Edge, turn around!"

Edge said nothing, his back still turned. He was trying to ignore the stinging pain of his cut finger, and the dull ache at his chest. He contemplated on whether to turn around or not, mainly out of fear of seeing the look on Akira's face...

"Yamada Eiji! LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Akira shouted. With his held back frustration, Edge turned around immediately about to let up a storm of profanities when he was face to face with them both. His rage instantly softened as he sighed, diverting his eyes away from Akira's glare. It was too late. He'd already caught a glimpse of her tear-stained face... it really felt as if someone drove one of his own knives right into his stomach.

"I'm positive you wouldn't even had made it through first year without Daigo. It's all in the matter of being together. If you'd been feeling down about something, we certainly wouldn't have disregarded you." Gan lectured, already feeling bad about himself. "What's up with you, man?"

"And Yuu was not an asshole! He just saw it fit to do the best he could without hurting anyone else!" Akira cried out, trying to control her tremors. "I loved him, Edge... how dare you say such things..."

"But he hurt you, didn't he? This is the part you don't get!" Edge snapped, bewildered at her ignorant statement. He noted right off the bat how uneasy she looked when she said that... and he wondered why it bothered him so much.

"Stop saying that! He didn't mean to hurt me! It wasn't his fault! He didn't want to hurt me... he told me so..." Akira whimpered, trying the best she could to keep her composure. The emotion was too much... she almost couldn't take it anymore. Was she beginning to doubt... the only person she ever loved? Even Daigo respected him...

"Then WHY did he do it Akira? Huh? Because he was a coward! Too scared to face the fact that even if he lived, he'd hurt you anyway!" Edge screeched in frustration, his temples throbbing. Why where they still arguing? _How could she accept Yuu's easy way out while we fought until the end! _"He was a fucking coward!"

"SHUT UP, EDGE! You're the one that doesn't get it!" Akira retorted, glaring at him the best she could through clouded eyes. "He wasn't strong enough! Not everyone is as headstrong as you might think they should be!" she wailed, her voice quavering even more with every word. Edge's scrunched up his face so that it deliberately read something along the lines of "that's bullshit." She resisted the urge to wipe her tear-stained face, before he broke out with a "Y'know, if Daigo had done something like that—which I'm sure he'd NEVER do—then you wouldn't accept it so easily!" Before he even finished his sentence, she flung her hand right into the side of his face, leaving a startled Gan, and a disorientated Edge. It was a powerful blow, and if she put in a little more force, it was possible that she could have dislocated his jaw. Edge glared at her in extreme disbelief, but somehow he couldn't protest.

"I hate you!" she cried shakily, and with that she dashed away as fast as her legs would carry her.

She jolted before he could reply, and his hands shook as he shoved his them back into his pockets. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed that was Gan shaking his head. He was already infuriated enough as it was, and a low growl escaped his throat. He left abruptly in the other direction without a word. Gan continued to stand there, very upset by what had just happened… and knowing that Edge surely wouldn't listen to a word he'd say at the moment, he immediately headed towards Akira's direction, hoping to quell her emotions.

Akira ran as fast as she could, feeling her legs pound the ground with extreme force. Tears blurred her vision as she rudely shoved through people without any regard for their safety. She blinked those painful tears away furiously, completely unaware of where she was going. She knew she had nowhere to go. She just wanted to leave. The only thing that was ringing through her head were Edge's last words...

"A coward!" she gritted through her teeth, supressing the huge lump the remained in her throat... how dare he! How could he say something like that about someone she loved... someone who cared about her... but was there truth in what he said? She knew Edge and Gan well. They didn't lie, especially when it came to what they believed in. Certainly, he didn't detest her so badly that he _wanted_ to hurt her feelings... but how could he not see that this was a sensitive subject to her?

She nearly collapsed in grief. She stumbled into an alleyway and let herself fall to her knees as she began to cry her heart out. She didn't know what to think. Because she long had a feeling inside her... that refused to let her hate Edge with all her being. It was a familiar feeling, and despite all the pain he and Yuu caused her in a span of a few minutes... it just wouldn't go away. It was that very feeling that was literally tearing her up inside.

Gan rushed his way through the nightly pedestrian traffic as he desperately searched for his much smaller friend. He was wondering where she could have possibly gone, because she certainly wasn't going towards the way of the trolley that was supposed to take her back to Seijyun HS. He looked franticly in stores and alleyways when he finally found her sitting against the concrete, her hands buried in her face.

"Akira! Please calm down!" Gan cried, as he rushed to her side. She looked up, her eyes red. She looked a little startled as she looked to the ground again, balling up her fist. She sighed deeply, feeling bad that Gan had to get into all of this.

"Gan... I'll be okay. I want to thank you..." she replied quietly, trying to ignore her sudden case of nausea. She opened her mouth and started to ask where Edge was, but she stopped herself and vowed that she wouldn't care. But even so, it was _still_ tearing her apart... Gan noticed this, but didn't say a word as he embraced her.

"I doubt Edge meant to hurt your feelings, but it seems this really upset him..."

"But why is he so passionate about it? He didn't even know Yuu... how can he say things like that?"

"Perhaps... it's because he was concerned for you."

Akira's eyes widened at the concept. It hadn't ocurred to her, but she almost refused to believe it. "Well, he certainly has a weird way of showing it..." she mumbled. After a short silence, she suddenly broke down, startling Gan.

"I don't hate him, Gan... " she sobbed.

"Are you still angry with him?"

"He didn't... need to bring Daigo into this."

"Don't worry about it, Akira. I assure you, everything will be fine." He comforted her, and promised her that eveything would work out between them because as friends, they would always stick together. It was getting dark however, so he decided to walk her back to her trolley to go back to her dormitories. It was a half-hour walk, and they departed, and Gan decided to head home. He WOULD make this work. Akira never meant to phyiscally hurt Edge like that... she had to let him know, because it was inevitable that he took this very personally.

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As Gan headed back towards his way, he continued wondering about Edge... if he didn't care anymore and just brushed everything off, or if he went home to think. However, from a few blocks away, he spotted the unmistakable hair sitting underneath a streetlight, chin in hands.

He was pleased when he saw that Edge hadn't gone home, because he could attempt to sort things out by tonight without all the frustration. He was sitting outside of Miss Kiri's now closed shop, brooding over something. Even though it was dark, Gan wasn't difficult to spot from a distance, and Edge almost felt like getting up to leave, but his legs had no will.

"Edge! Are you okay?" he called out, as he approached him.

"I sure am," he replied sarcastically. "Nothin' like getting yelled at by everyone, amputatin' your finger, getting the shit slapped out of you, and THEN getting told by your supposed friend that she hates your guts!" he exclaimed cheerily, throwing his arms into the air. Gan sighed, as this (near) exaggeration obviously told him that he was most certainly affected by what happened a couple of hours ago.

"Oh, come on... you know she didn't mean that. I actually... have a bit of news to tell you." Gan stated calmly, sitting next to his lanky friend. He approached him carefully, not wanting to set him off.

"I'm guessin' you went to go talk to her, huh..." he sighed, pouting childishly. "She's such a tough girl, why does she need all this support?" he asked as he massaged the side of his jaw. "Damn, that fucking hurt..."

"Dude. She's worried about you."

"Your point?"

"Akira doesn't hate you at all. It's just the whole bringing up a tragedy of the past, you know... messed her up a little bit. She's been wondering a lot about what you said... it just pissed her off that someone so close to her just demeaned the only other person she could relate to."

"So what does this have to do with me?"

"Don't you GET IT!" Gan snapped in exasperation, holding his head between his hands. "Even if I were in your position, I'd be damned if I didn't realize it by now..."

"What? What am I missing here?" Edge yelled back, anticipating the worst. He wasn't feeling well because Gan was actually making him feel stupid.

"She's in love with you!"

Edge stopped in his tracks.

"How can you assume something so crazy like that?" Edge mumbled, as Gan noticed the obvious hint of blush creeping up on his face. It was nearly impossible to put everything together sensibly. "She just told me straight up that she hated me! That's bull."

"No, it's not bull! I can't believe you're still taking that seriously! You've been treating her so differently from everyone else ever since she got transferred to Seijyun High... but it's not that being the reason why she's always upset with you... she loves you, but she just can't comprehend it."

"She sure has a weird way of showing it." he spat, still taken aback. He still didn't understand at all because NONE of this was making sense... not to him, at least. How was he treating her differently? Gan looked at him, remembering that was exactly what Akira had replied with. Edge rubbed the side of his swollen face in agitation. "What the hell, man? If that's how she feels, she didn't have to go out on a limb to 'prove it'!"

"Edge, you haven't noticed? I have three sisters, and I know, when a girl likes a guy—"

"Screw that! Did she tell you this?"

"No, but..."

"Then case closed. I've gotta go, I'll see you later," he replied hastily and headed home. Gan opened his mouth and then closed it, sighing at his ignorance. He decided that this was something that couldn't be helped... it's something the two of them would have to handle face-to-face. The big guy was never good at explaining himself... but maybe he _did_ go too far when he said that Akira had _loved_ him... he just didn't want them to fight anymore... but his suspicion wasn't entirely false. He could clearly see that Akira had some soft spot for the punk-haired boy, and she just couldn't handle it...

Edge quickly walked away with as much speed he could muster without looking nervous. In fact, his heart was hammering so hard; he couldn't even concentate on his own thoughts. Akira was in love with him? That was entirely impossible. He couldn't see how she could get over the death of her boyfriend so quickly... and yet, he couldn't figure why she'd take a liking to him of all people. Didn't Gan just complain on her behalf? She always had her brother, even though he knew it was a different kind of love in their case. She didn't need him so much! But they were friends... why would she want to ruin that? Edge let out a very heavy sigh as he concentrated on the coarse textures of the sidewalk... he couldn't think now. His mind was too ragged. He just wanted everything to go back to normal... if he had to treat her just how he did when they first met, then so be it.

"...That's bull..."


End file.
